Cape Town and the Cape of Good Hope
Bluegum Hill Guest House, Cape Town, September 27, circa 8 pm local time
After a lot of very early mornings, I had a very relaxed morning today. I woke, wrote the preceding journal entry, slept some more, and then got up. After a shower I felt awake for real. I went upstairs and met my guide for the day, Graham. While I had some breakfast and tea (taking care about the temperature), Graham and I discussed the plan for the day, going over it on a map. After breakfast, we stepped out on the guest house's balcony to admire the view. I gathered my things for the day, and we got into his car.
The first stop was Signal Hill, a high overlook point above the guest house; the view was similar, but ranged even wider because of the higher altitude. Along the side of the road, I saw a guinea fowl, this one with a red head rather than the blue head I've seen most often.
From the overlook point, Graham pointed out various sights, explaining that one particular motorway had been the original shoreline of Cape Town, and that the low land to the north (seaward) of it had all been reclaimed from the sea.
At some point (I think during breakfast back at the guest house) I had asked him whether he had seen District 9. He hadn't; he didn't think it looked like his type of film. But while we were on the overlook, as he was explaining which motorway had marked the original shoreline, I had used a stretch of greenbelt as a landmark to help clarify the shoreline question.
After we had left the overlook, Graham told me that what I had thought of as a patch of greenbelt had been known as District 6. He explained the history of District 6. In the past, Cape Town had been segregated: whites lived in the most desirable locations, blacks lived in the worst areas, and "coloureds" (people of mixed race, Arabic ancestry, Indian ancestry, and others who were neither white nor dark-skinned black) lived in intermediate-quality land. For several centuries, under the Dutch colonial era then later the British colonial era, the segregation had been informal. After independence, the segregation was formalized as Apartheid.
At one time, District 6 had been a coloured area outside the city. But as the city grew, the land became a desirable location, and the city wanted to annex it for the benefit of whites. In the 1960s, thousands of coloured people were forced out of their homes, and had to move to less desirable locations further out. All the homes were demolished, leaving only churches standing. But the action had been controversial, and building on the land seemed troubled by the risk that those who had been forced out might reclaim the property. The land reverted to greenbelt because no one dared build there.
Now, people who had been forced out, or their families, are trying to regain control of the property. Although Apartheid has been over for a long time, the process of reinstating ownership of the land is moving slowly, so for now the land remains vacant.
Anyway, after looking over the city from the view point, we returned to the car, and headed south, toward Fish Hoek Bay. Arriving there, we checked the departure time for the next sailing to Seal Island. According to the sign, we'd just missed it. But according to the boat tied up to the dock, we still had a chance. We hurried to the admission window.
Graham said to the cashier, "one adult, one guide", and presented his credentials as an accredited tourist guide. I paid my 38 Rand fare; Graham rode for free. We hurried aboard, and the boat left soon afterward.
Along the way out of the harbor, we encountered a bit of unexpected drama: a man clinging to one end of an overturned kayak, shouting for help. A crew member shouted to ask, "are you OK?" The man shouted back, "No!" The crew radioed the harbor patrol for assistance and reversed engines to pull up toward the man in distress.
Before long, the crew had pulled the man close to the front of the tour boat. They put out a line, and pulled the man part of the way out of the water. With the crew steadying him, it looked like he was able to right his kayak himself, but maybe the crew righted it for him. In any case, he soon managed to get back into the kayak, and began paddling back toward the inner harbor.
Around that time, a harbor patrol Jet-Ski pulled up, from shore, and not long after a harbor patrol boat arrived from the outer harbor. The man was past the worst of his distress, but the harbor patrol stayed close while he rowed back into the inner harbor.
With the rescue accomplished, the tour boat returned to its course out of the harbor. The inner harbor waters had been very smooth, but an announcement had warned that the waves would be quite rough. Sure enough, as we left the harbor the boat started swaying with the swells from the Indian Ocean. Graham asked me whether I was prone to motion sickness, apologizing for not asking that before we had boarded. I'm not, so it was not a problem.
As we approached the seal rocks, Graham pointed at a spot of very large waves breaking over some shallows. He said that it was a world-famous surfing location, and that for a few weeks each year the change of seasonal conditions made the waves ideal for an international surfing competition.
Soon enough, we slowed, approaching the seal rocks. We saw hundreds of seals, some swimming, some sunning or resting on rocks, and a few working their way in or out of the water. I took a bunch of pictures and video as the boat motored past the rocks, gradually turned, and crept back. The stills look pretty good, but I really hope the video I took of a seal working its way out of the water came out good. I also took some pictures and video of the heavy waves in the surfing area; the stills don't look very interesting, but the video might be better because the motion of the surf is a big part of the impression of it.
After lingering in the area, giving us plenty of time to observe, the boat fired up the engines again and headed back to the harbor. I took some more pictures and video of assorted scenery along the way back. Soon enough, we were back at the harbor.
I lost track of Graham while the boat was unloading passengers, but soon enough he emerged, helping a family unload a stroller. I didn't see a child, and it seemed like the ride had been a bit too rough for a stroller-aged child, but it was nice of him to help them.
We returned to the car, and were on our way again. At various points during the drive, he told things about South African history (such as the District 6 story) and the present (not perfect, but improving). He said that he was actually a Scottish citizen, but had lived in South Africa most of his life. He could leave for Scotland if he wished, but he liked it there, and felt optimistic about the country's future.
We drove south through the Cape of Good Hope National Reserve. I paid 75 Rand for admission, and again Graham got in free as a guide. The land was scenic and wild. Before long, we reached Cape Point. We hiked up the hill to the old lighthouse. It had been built in the 19th century out of iron prefabricated in Britain, but it was shut down in the early 20th century because it was on such high ground that its light was often lost in mist or clouds; a new lighthouse was constructed on lower ground to replace it.
There was a lot of pretty vegetation along the hike up to the lighthouse. Most famous is the South African national flower, the protea, but what I noticed first was an arum lily. I also found the wild olives pretty; I recognized them as something I had grown as a house plant, and had also seen them at Zulu Nyala.
At the lighthouse, I took a variety of scenery pictures. The lighthouse was built atop Cape Point, and had a view of the Cape of Good Hope, the southwest-most point in Africa. I also took a picture of a fun sign showing the distance and direction to various cities around the world. The most distant one marked was New York, 12541 km away; it didn't show the distance to Seattle or Los Angeles.
Another interesting sight at Cape Point was the view of a small beach in an inlet along the south shore of the cape. Near the beach was a whale, almost certainly a southern right whale, because they're migrating in the area this time of year. I took pictures and video of the whale, some of which came out quite well, because the light was favorable and the high angle gave me a clear view of it.
While looking around at the view from the lighthouse, Graham pointed out a small lizard clinging to the wall around the outside. I couldn't clearly see it, but I tried to take some video of it with the video camera's view screen reversed. It will be interesting to see whether the lizard video came out well.
After the lighthouse hike, Graham asked about lunch. He said that there was a deli and a sit-down restaurant there and asked my choice. I thought the restaurant sounded nice, so we went inside. I ordered a pasta dish, which was delicious. He had fish and chips. We both had the chocolate mousse for dessert; it was wonderful, possibly the best dessert I've had anywhere except Seattle.
After lunch, we walked back to the car, and headed for the penguin colony near Simon's Town. My first picture there wasn't a penguin, it was a rainbow, which looked really nice after I switched to my wide-angle lens; it was a complete arch, looking south-southeast, with the Sun behind me to the north-northwest.
Of course, the penguins were interesting too. I watched them for quite a while, doing their penguin business, and suffering the chilly wind. The stills I took were decent, but penguins waddling around is a lot more fun as video. I looked at the HD video I took with my 5D, and it was pretty poor; I hope my attempts with the video camera came out better, and I suppose there's a chance because there's more of it to choose from.
After the penguin colony, we headed back toward the hotel. By that point, I was struggling with drowsiness, and dozed part of the way. I was annoyed with myself about that, because I'm sure there were things to see along the road, and I had a guide driving who could have been telling me about the sights along the way. I was awake part of the way, but I still missed out on quite a bit.
Graham dropped me back at the hotel late in the afternoon, or maybe early in the evening. I unloaded my stuff in my room, stretched out on the bed to write journal, and fell asleep immediately. I woke around 8 pm and started writing for real. It was a bit chilly in my room, so I moved upstairs to the common room for a while.
In the common room, I wrote for only a little while. A couple from the UK (he's English, she's Scottish) were also in the common room, and I thought a little conversation would be more fun than sitting by myself writing. They asked whether I was going out to dinner, but I didn't really feel like dinner out alone. They said I could order delivered food, and also offered to share their snacks - bread, cheese, and prosciutto from a grocery store. After a big lunch, that sounded nice, and they seemed eager for conversation too. So we had a pleasant little dinner snack together.
After they said goodnight, I returned to my room to finish writing this journal entry. I'd like to finally get all of this online, but I need some sleep too. Maybe I'll feel up to it in the morning, if I'm awake early enough to have time before Graham returns for another day of guided touring. The plan is wine country, which is said to be very scenic, in addition to the fun of the wine tasting.